Work needs energy. When
a work is completed, we feel tired. Mother says that at the end of a work, one
should not feel tired if we have the right attitude to work. As usual Mother is
different here also. Concentration means dwelling on oneself. When a work comes
to us, we do not identify ourselves with it. We see it as coming from outside.
That way we concentrate on ourselves and the work becomes a burden. The more we
concentrate on ourselves - our self-interest - the more frustrating the work
is. Instead, when we concentrate on the work, work moves on smoothly, time
flies and we do not feel tired at the end of it.

Successful people not only concentrate on the work, but identify themselves
with the work. Churchill’s secretaries used to fall asleep when he went
on dictating after midnight. Nehru used to work late, sometimes
going up to 3 a.m. This is true not only of great men, but of all of
us when we take a great attitude to work. The man who is selfish takes selfish
interest in the work. He too is energised.

Iago in Othello was an evil man, known for his motiveless malignity. He was
scheming late at night and actively. Suddenly he saw it was dawn. Even evil
people when they LOSE themselves in work find the work not tiring. Sometime it
is energising too. It will be a great boon if one can feel NOT tired at the end
of the day and a greater one if he is overflowing with energy after a
day’s work.

In the US elections, the Presidential candidates work almost
all night. They have the energy from the selfish or party interest. Once the
campaign is over, especially unsuccessfully, they collapse. Normally in the
work we do routinely there is a great scope to improve the skill. Our skill
levels generally are at 60% or 70%.

Once you acquire a shade more of skill in one aspect of the work, you will see
the work is not tiring. It has no end. To move from 70% of skill to 95% of
efficiency is possible for all of us. At that level there will be job
satisfaction and unflagging energy. To go beyond the 95% each one percentage of
improvement will appear to require a Himalayan effort. That effort itself is energising.
Suppose you reach 99% perfection and you are determined to reach 100%. You will
discover that to cover that 1% you need as much energy as you spent in reaching
at 99%. It is so because he who touches 100% perfection moves from the human
effort to spiritual energy, which is endless.